Horse Ralsine IN CoLtontan New ENGLAND 925 
Narragansetts is given in a letter written about 1847 and quoted by 
Updike (169) in his History of the Episcopal Church mn Narragansett. 
This deseribes how in 1791 an aged lady then living in Narragansett 
rode one of these pacers on a lady’s side-saddle to Plainfield, a dis- 
tance of thirty miles, rode the next day to Hartford, forty miles, staid 
in Hartford for two days, then rode forty miles to New Haven, then 
forty miles to New London, and then home to Narragansett, forty 
miles more. The lady claimed to have experienced no sensible fatigue. 
Because of the export trade with the West Indies, horses of any 
sort would have been a valuable source of revenue to the Narragansett 
planters,* and it is probable that many of the ordinary New England 
stock were bred for this purpose in the region. But the cream of the 
demand from the sugar planters was for saddle horses for personal 
use, and for these they were willing and able to pay extravagant prices. 
To this demand was added that of persons of means throughout all New 
England and the other continental British colonies as well.’? Thus, 
in these unusual pacers, whose gait and general characteristics suited 
them so admirably to such use, it is clear that the Narragansett dis- 
trict had a very important source of revenue and one which probably 
contributed in no small measure to its prosperity. 
The horses and other livestock of the Narragansett district designed 
for exportation to the West Indies found an outlet through the various 
ports on Narragansett Bay, or were driven to New London or Stonington 
over the old Pequot trail, which had become the post road between 
Boston and New York and which passed through the center of the 
region. Apparently many animals were shipped also directly from the 
Narragansett country itself; Robert Hazard, for example, is said to 
14*#From the account book kept by Thomas Hazard, one of the wealthiest and most 
prominent of the Narragansett planters, may be gleaned some idea of the prices received. 
In 1753 he sold a three-year-old at £150, and the next year a thirteen-year-old bay 
“with a white nose”’ brought £70; while in 1755 a “black troting mare’’ brought 
only £55. In 1763 a black mare sold for £244, but by that time the Rhode Island 
currency had greatly depreciated in value and Mr. Hazard noted alongside that £7=1 
Spanish Milled Dollar.’ In 1766, however, one ‘“ dark colored natural pacing horse with 
some white on his face’ brought the high price of fifty-five Spanish milled dollars. 
(Hazard, Thomas Hazard, Son of Robt., cal’d College Tom, p. 63.) 
2 Watson (Annals of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania, p. 209) gives an account of 
one such shipment in 1711, as recorded in a letter written by a certain Rip van Dam 
who had engineered the transaction on behalf of Jonathan Dickinson, of Philadelphia. 
The horse was shipped from Rhode Island in a sloop, from which he jumped overboard 
and swam ashore to his former home. Recaptured, he finally arrived in New York, 
“after fourteen days passage much reduced in flesh and spirit.” He cost £30 plus 
50 shillings for freight, and was evidently an animal of spirit; he ‘‘ would not stand 
still but plays about all the time;” he would ‘ drink a glass of wine or beer or cider,” 
” 
and Rip van Dam further opines that ‘‘ he would drink a dram on a good cold morning. 
